(Because the internet is mostly awful, but sometimes awesome, I found a version of the Sound of Silence by Shulem, an ultra-Orthodox musician.)
Four Sons. Four/Five Cups. Four/Five responses to Pharaoh?
In preparing for Passover, I found an incredible essay by Rabbi Ethan Tucker of Hadar. It discussed the role of Job in the Passover story, something that I had never encountered previously. In the context of his essay, he highlights a text from he Babylonian Talmud about the role of three individuals in the Passover story: Bilam (the non-Jewish prophet who blessed Israel when he wanted to curse them), Job (famous for his response to Divinely ordained suffering), and Jethro (Moses’s Midianite Father in Law).
According to the Talmud, these three men had three responses to Pharaoh’s intention to make the Israelites suffer: 1) Bilam actively hatches a plan to bring Pharaoh’s enmity to fruition, actively collaborating with the oppression of the Israelites. 2) Job remains silent, trying to hedge his bets and negotiate his relationship to unjust power through inaction and 3) Jethro flees, refusing to be actively involved in Pharaoh’s injustice while understanding that he can’t change Pharaoh’s will or plans.
The fourth figure that isn’t mentioned in this section of the Talmud (or in the Haggadah) is Moses. He actively and openly resists.
That said, when it comes to Moses, I think that we encounter two versions of him, so I think that there are 4.5 models we can engage here.
Moses v. 1: When Moses faces his own Jewish identity and is filled with rage, he goes out and kills an Egyptian taskmaster without forethought. He doesn’t consider the effects of his action on the Israelite slaves. He doesn’t think about how his actions will effect those still out in the fields (potentially leading to a harsh crackdown) or how his future moral leadership will be compromised through committing murder impulsively.
Moses v. 2: Later, after cooling down and letting time pass, Moses returns to the Israelites. Along with his brother Aaron, he follows a clear and consistent message from God. He chooses a partner with complementary skills, seeks counsel, and acts with thoughtful integrity.
We learn a lot about Moses’s approaches to leadership in the Torah, but I think we might learn something even more valuable about the three characters mentioned in the Talmud. Most of us do not act in the world like Moses’s ideal self or like Bilam who actively supports and enacts evil decrees through malintent (though some do at times.)
When facing injustice, most of us are like Job or Jethro, either remaining silent to negotiate our standing in an unjust world, or running away because the specter of an unjust society is too much to confront alone.
Job’s example is especially salient because his story portrays a complicated relationship to silence. According to Jewish law — inspired by the Book of Job — we are required to say silent in a shiva house until a mourner begins a conversation with us. Why? Our words aren’t helpful — they are in fact harmful. When we speak to someone in existential pain, we often do so to distract ourselves, or to clumsily explain things to a mourner that we don’t actually understand ourselves. Job’s fake friends always had some kind of explanation for his suffering that was simultaneously wrong and cruel. We learn from Job’s story that silence is often golden, especially when we truly don’t know what we are talking about.
However, in the Talmud, Job’s own silence is the source of his suffering. Maybe God punishes him for not fleeing or flighting. Or — maybe silence in the face of something you know to be wrong is a source of suffering itself. The process of trying to figure out which times to speak out, especially when guided by the process of weighing personal costs and benefits, is deeply painful. To employ another slogan — without justice, there is not peace. Both collectively and within the individual soul.
This Passover, let us think not only about the scripts we read at seder or the songs we sing along with them. Let us also think about the silences that define our lives. Are our silences a sign of righteous humility or selfish calculation? Only we and God know our true intentions. However, as we approach the season of liberation, let us discern how we employ silence, keeping quiet when our voice is unhelpful, and summoning the courage the speak out when facing a reality that is undeniably wrong.
Chag Kasher v’Sameah - A kosher and joyous Passover to all!
What I am reading now
An interview with Eva Illouz, on the challenges of loving Israel while fighting to make it just. “The situation is grave, but there is a beautiful people in Israel. A people that is fighting to preserve democracy. I don’t think there is any other country where people have been on the streets for three years, even though they are waging harsh wars. That too is Israel. It is unique in the world. I salute these people in the streets.”
I’m not an economist — not going to comment on tariff policy. However, David Brook’s article on American illiteracy is crucial at this moment. What does it mean to have non-literate leaders in every corner of our society? What does it mean to be led by future and current leaders who do not and cannot read actual books? What does that augur for the future of the rabbinate? Relevant for this season: How do we conduct seders when a new generation cannot follow a story or understand cause and effect?